The Everyday

Our everyday life moves rather quickly these days.  But also, it’s been a very drama-free year.  So I haven’t done much journaling of my thoughts.  I thought I would write some of the things going on right now.

To start off, there’s a couple things Ryan wanted me to note.  First is Kylee.  Ryan has been offended because she will occasionally ignore him and only speak to me.  Like she came into our room the other night and we were both sitting on the bed and she goes, “goodnight Mom.”  And heads off to bed.  Ryan’s like, “I’m here too!”  I don’t notice it as much as him, so he may be exaggerating but he claims she does it when she leaves for school sometimes too.  The most obvious time was when Ryan asked her a question about how volleyball was and she started to answer but it made her think of something she had obviously wanted to tell me so instead of answering him she goes, “oh hey, Mom! …”  And proceeded to start to tell me a story.  Ryan was like, “Hey!  I am the one who asked how it went, why are you ignoring me and talking only to Mom?”  It makes her feel bad, but it’s a habit she’s in I guess.  I tell him it’s because we talk a lot during the day, and he’s like, “all the more reason she should talk to me when I ask her a question about her day.”  It’s funny, and also sad.  Maybe they need a Daddy-Daughter date or something…

Sadie makes up for it though.  Sadie loves watching sports with Ryan.  It’s probably only a phase, but she will sit with him and ask him what color they’re cheering for and watch the score closely.  The other day he was in the other room and she was watching it without him.  She would watch while someone scored, then pause it and run and tell Ryan what happened.  Then she would come back, unpause for a minute until someone else scored.  But the funniest was that she was like, “What?!  Are you kidding me!! Ugh!”  It was hilarious.  And she crosses her fingers and toes trying to help the guy make his shots.  It’s hilarious.  At least Ryan has one buddy to watch March Madness with him.  It’s not that I couldn’t get into the games.  It’s just that I’ve got SO MUCH else on my mind and so much I need to be doing that it just doesn’t happen.

I took Kylee off gluten and her skin is improving.  It’s not completely bump-free, but she’s also accidentally eaten gluten here and there.  I think it’s helping.  I’m not sure how long we will continue with it, but it’s nice to know that her body doesn’t process gluten very well.  That information might be useful later on.

The biggest thing we’re dealing with is illness, unfortunately.  Ryan went on a couple golf trips in January and brought home a nasty cough that lasted weeks.  Dylan, Kaden and Sadie started coughing a bit right before we went to Arizona in February.  But it wasn’t that bad.  While we were in Arizona, Kaden got really sick though.  He fevered for four days or more and coughed all night long.  As soon as we got back from Arizona, literally like an hour after we got home, Dylan came down with a fever.  It hit me the next day.  We all struggled that week and it lingered for awhile.  But we were all feeling pretty good by the time we went to St George in March.  Then we all got hit again once we got home (thankfully we made it home before anyone was miserable, because that is a long car ride and would not be fun to do feeling sick).  Again, we all got it right after our trip, except Ryan somehow avoided that one.  There’s been a LOT of coughing and runny noses.  There has been a lot of illness going around this winter in general and we were not spared.  But we are on the mend I believe and should be good soon.

I haven’t posted school pictures yet so here they are!  How cute are they?

And here’s Sadie’s dance pictures.

This school year has been a bit different than previous years.  It’s been a bit frustrating for me.  I’ve kind of had to just sit back and let things be and try not to get too bothered.  The last couple years I have been very involved in my kids’ classes.  This year Kylee’s teacher said she doesn’t need help in the classroom.  So I didn’t get to be there or see how things were going or anything about what she’s doing.  And I did volunteer in Dylan’s class for awhile.  But when I went in for math, she would just have me stay out in the hall and help a small handful of kids that needed a bit more focus or had questions on their math.  But Dylan was never one of those kids so I never got to see what he was doing in math or even if he was focusing and working.  Eventually I stopped going because Kaden was napping later, but I started going in for reading in the morning.  That was more fun for me, but harder with Kaden.  He became more mobile and a handful as he just wandered the halls and tried to sneak into classrooms, computer lab, boy’s bathroom, etc.  We missed a couple weeks because of illness, and traveling, and I just gave up because I was spending so much time chasing him down that it was pointless.

So I haven’t been as involved as usual.  Dylan’s year has been pretty good.  His reading level continues to increase.  I think he’s at 5.5 now.  He says he’s the second highest in his class, I’m not sure if that’s true or not but whatever.  He also does challenge spelling words every week instead of the regular words.  This is a challenge for both of us because I am constantly trying to find ways to help him remember certain words.  But it doesn’t stick with him as easy as it does with Kylee.  That being said, it’s usually only two words that trip him up.  So he still does really well, missing one or two words on the test each week.  He said to me, “can I just do the regular spelling words again?  I want to get 100%.”  I feel for him.  But his teacher wants to keep him on the challenge words and I think he’s doing great with them.

He does well with all the math he brings home as well.  Occasionally I will print out an accelerated math page for him.  When I do this, the problems are really easy and he whips through them super fast.  He’ll do three or four practice papers in like 10 minutes.  And he rarely misses any.  Which is why I don’t understand why I don’t see him take more tests at school.  And occasionally when he does take a test, he will miss some.  I get emails telling me his score, but not the problems or anything.  So I get an email saying he got 67% and I can’t understand how.  The only thing I can think is that maybe the little NEO he uses at school to put his test in the system is being slow and he’s not being careful so he is putting the answers in wrong.  I ask him which problems he missed and he says he didn’t see.  Whenever I helped in Kylee’s class, I always saw her teachers looking at the results with her and making sure she understood where she went wrong so she could fix it.  Dylan’s teacher seems like she’s on top of things so I’m not sure what’s going on with math.  I’m slightly frustrated that he’s not progressing more quickly with accelerated math.  But it’s not a big deal.  They also do this program called MobyMax so he’s been working on math problems on there (along with all the other subjects).  So I know they haven’t focused as much on accelerated math this year.  Like I said, I have just had to try and let it be.  I’m not sure there’s anything I could do even if I asked his teacher why he isn’t getting better scores at school when it is so easy for him at home.  Or why the year is almost over and he’s still working on super easy stuff.  Whatever.

Here is his paperwork.

I don’t think I saved Kylee’s report card.  She didn’t get any reports for me so I don’t know what her levels are (another annoyance but her teacher kept saying things like, “the levels don’t really matter, as long as she’s still learning…” She says her reading level is up to 8.5 or something, but she only knows that because the NEO tells her.)  Her report card was all A’s and also perfect for behavior.  I think she established herself as a good kid early on because she occasionally tells me about things like her friend got in trouble for talking and had to pay five class bucks, but it was totally Kylee’s fault.  So Kylee paid her friend the money.  And another girl was getting lectured for not getting something done and Kylee says, “I’m not done either.” And the teacher just says, “ok” like it’s no big deal.  She’s feeling a little favored, even if she doesn’t know that’s what it is.  I know she’s not perfect.  But I’m happy that she’s good enough that the teachers have pinned her as a good kid.

I do have this little note she made me from and Activity Days project they did.  It’s nice that she noticed :) <3  I was fevering and everything after Arizona.  It was a long, rough week.

Kylee’s year has been more frustrating.  This is the first time the school has had the fourth graders rotating through all three teachers with each teacher focusing on one subject.  As best I can tell, and some of my friends’ opinions are, the three teachers were having a hard time meshing together the first of the year.  Everything was very confusing.  There was the struggle with the nonfiction books: I was told she needs to read/test on about half nonfiction books.  I couldn’t find many nonfiction books in her reading level since she’s higher.  The teachers told me she could test on 3^rd grade nonfiction.  I found a bunch of nonfiction at the library, she took the numbers to school to test on them and came home telling me her teacher said she couldn’t test on 3^rd grade books since her level is so high.  It was all very frustrating for both Kylee and I.  What I think happened is the teachers are having a hard time keeping all 90 students straight.  And at the time her teacher might not have been clear that she was trying to test on a nonfiction book.  Whatever.  I sort of gave up on the nonfiction halfway through the year.  Kylee even told me that her teachers NEVER mentioned nonfiction at all.  Maybe once at the beginning of the year.  I’m thinking, if they’re expecting these kids to test on a bunch of nonfiction books, why are they not offering them books in the classroom libraries?  Or encouraging them towards the nonfiction section when they go to the library at school once a week?  How have the kids missed that they’re expected to read nonfiction?  And why am I going through all the effort to get the books if it doesn’t matter.  This is something I brought up at conferences in February and the teachers laughed about the whole “never mentioned nonfiction” and after that they had a contest between the classes to see who could test on more nonfiction books.  So it was cleared up.  Still, it took half the year.

That whole struggle was annoying but not to worst.  My two main concerns going into parent-teacher conferences at the halfway mark were: Kylee was stressed! And felt behind.  How does that happen?  She’s a fast worker, she doesn’t often lose focus for long periods of time (at least it’s not something I’ve ever heard about or seen negative results from).  Two: Why is she not progressing in math or reading at all??  Why does it feel like she’s just average now where every other year she has always been at the top of the class?

The anxiety she had was most severe in December.  There was a little in January, but since then it’s much better.  She told me there was an assignment they had while there was a substitute there (for like a week I think) and she didn’t finish it and she had to turn it in anyway and it was going to be graded as-is.  She was stressing because that kind of thing doesn’t happen to her.  I’m not sure why she didn’t finish.  I asked if others didn’t finish and she said, “yes, some others.”  But it obviously didn’t matter because she still had straight A’s and the teacher never mentioned anything to me so she wasn’t concerned either.  When I asked Kylee about class she said she just feels like she can’t catch up.  Whenever she finishes one thing, her teacher just hands her more work.  (Let me just clarify that this was way BEFORE we missed seven school days for vacations)  I also heard they were not split by ability for math or language arts or reading.  This is why it felt like she was in the average section.  I looked at her homework one day and she had doodled a bunch on it, with thought-bubbles coming off a dog, etc.  She was obviously bored.  So then I got irritated that she’s so bored.  She’s bored, so she’s zoning out, and she probably ends up missing something she should’ve been paying attention to because of it.  It was all very frustrating for me.

When I brought this up with her teachers, they explained that he transition from third to fourth grade is a big jump.  And that a lot of students struggle, especially those that are used to having everything so easy.  Their explanation made sense, I guess.  It explains the stress.  My child is not the only one who was stressed.  But my friends rolled their eyes a little because they all have older kids who have gone through fourth grade before and it’s never been a problem.  Their thoughts are basically that the rotation is the problem.  It is hard on the kids.  The teachers aren’t great with it yet.  It’s causing confusion and stress.  I don’t know if that’s the case.  I’m not sure what to think.  It is what it is.  And she has perfect grades and her teachers all had great things to say about her and her stress is gone now so I’m just riding out the rest of the year.  Who cares if she’s not actually being pushed much as far as math skills or whatever. 

Sadie’s doing great in school.  Though, again, I feel out of the loop.  I’m not really sure what I expect.  I just felt like last year her teacher sent a lot of progress-report-type papers home.  I had been told that between the two preschool teachers in our neighborhood, Miss Deanna (who she has now) does a little better at preparing them for Kindergarten and Miss Kymm (who she had last year) is more just fun.  From what I’ve seen, that’s not exactly true.  Not saying Miss Kymm is better, but I think they are pretty similar.  I just feel like Miss Kymm kept me informed better.  Miss Deanna sends home the newsletters every month with what they are working on.  She tells us what we should be helping them with at home, a couple months ago it was zipping up their coats.  And she did send an evaluation home at about the halfway point that said Sadie was doing well and ready to read so she could send books home with her if we wanted.  I said yes and she said to let her know if the book she sent was too easy or too hard.  It was a level two book, just a little challenging which I felt was perfect for Sadie.  I told Sadie to tell her that it was just right.  But since then the books she’s sent home have been really easy.  I’m sure I could email Miss Deanna and ask for harder books, and maybe I will, I just don’t want to be a pain.  Because I get books for Sadie at the library too so I can get the harder books.  It’s just harder to get Sadie to read the books I get for her because they are not sent home as an “assignment” from Miss Deanna.

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me.  Maybe I had high expectations of my kids’ progress this year and I’m a little disappointed.  But all three of them are doing wonderfully and I’m very proud of all of them.  I took them to the dentist the other day (I’m always stressed that there will be cavities and it will be a direct indication of how poor of a job I’m doing as a mother!) They all were well behaved, no anxiety about the dentist, no cavities, the staff all had nice things to say about them.  At least those three.  Kaden is a toddler-troublemaker who likes to try and wander into rooms he shouldn’t be in, especially if there is a broom or vacuum in there.

So yes, I’m a proud mama. 

Socially it’s been a bit different this year as well.  Sadie hasn’t begged to play with any of the kids in her preschool class.  She barely even talks about any of her friends there.  Whereas last year it was constant “can I play with …?  Please???”  This year she prefers to play with Grace who lives across the street.  Which is great for me because she can run over there herself.  But it’s just weird.  Dylan doesn’t have any of his usual friends in his class this year so he rarely asks to play with them.  Which means he rarely plays with friends.  Which means he wants to play on his phone all the time.  Which I hate.  He’s not depressed about it or anything.  And he has plenty of friends in class, and even says he plays with Sam and Sophie (two of his favorites from last year, but they aren’t in his class this year).  They live a few blocks away, just enough that I don’t really want him taking off over there by himself all the time.  He plays with Kylee and Sadie.  But yeah, it’s just a weird year socially.

For Kylee though, this year has been great socially!  Her bestie this year is named Hailey.  I don’t know her.  She doesn’t live in our neighborhood.  She’s being raised by her grandmother because her mom is in jail and her dad is on drugs.  Or something along those lines.  Anyway, from what I can tell, she’s low-drama (thank heavens! And what a change!)  It has been so nice because at the first of the year when her old friends would start drama, Kylee would just let it roll off her shoulders and not get involved.  Apparently Sydni is good friends with this new girl Maddy and Kylee feels like Maddy talks about “inappropriate” things all the time.  I won’t go into details, but I’m happy she can clearly see that she’s not someone she wants to spend time with.  She has been happy this year.  Last year we had a lot of days she came home upset with hurt feelings.  She still sees Sydni during rotations and she plays with her sometimes as recess or whatnot.  But there has been no drama.  I’m certain it’s because she has Hailey to hang out with and doesn’t feel like Sydni can control her at all.   It’s been a good year.  (I’ll go ahead and knock on wood since there are still over two months left…)

We missed a couple days from illness.  Then we missed four days for Arizona.  I told Dylan he couldn’t miss anymore or we couldn’t go to St George!  But he got sick, so what can he do?  He missed again and sure enough, we got a note home saying he had missed 7 days, which is the max.  If he misses more than 9 he may have to repeat the 2^nd grade.  We got that letter a week before we were taking him to St George missing three more days of school.  Whoops.  I talked to the secretary at the school and she said the principal and teacher decide.  She says it’s a funding thing as much as a not-missing-work thing. 

Dylan had to do a research paper that ended up being late since we were in Arizona, but he still got 100%!  Then Kylee had to decorate a potato for Idaho Days, which she did a rocket and it was really cute but I don’t think we took a picture, unfortunately.  Now Dylan has to do a diorama of a habitat (he chose the tundra, which I think it fun and unique, and he learned about it a bit from his research paper on caribou).  AND Kylee has to come up with a costume for the solar pageant.  Something solar.  She chose Uranus.  Again, fun and unique.  But how do you make a planet costume???  This all seems like more work for me than for the actual student.  If the kid can’t do the majority of the work alone with supplies found in an average home, should it really be assigned?  The planet costume stresses accuracy- meaning the three hula-hoops I found to use as rings probably won’t work because Uranus actually has 11 rings.  And I’m not buying 8 more hula-hoops.  So yeah, this should be fun.